Joint BVF Platform-BBP Symposium

The Belgian Biosafety Professionals and the Biological Safety Officers Platform thank the sponsors for supporting this event.

February 5, 2019Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Ensuring that our colleagues work safely with biological materials is our day-to-day job, but what if an unexpected, unplanned and unwanted event occurs?

Are you prepared for an emergency involving biological materials?The aim of the symposium is to familiarize the participants with emergency preparedness and response, thereby including all potential stakeholders. By means of a short classroom introduction and multiple hands-on break-out sessions, participants will gain insight in emergency planning, training and communication with stakeholders.

Poliovirus wildtype 2 was eradicated since 1999, in 2016 the poliovirus type 2 component was removed from the live vaccines (OPV) in a worldwide WHO coordinated vaccine switch program. A year later an accident happened with a wildtype 2 poliovirus in a vaccine production facility: 2 operators were exposed and one was found to be infected with this eradicated virus. How we dealt with this accident (and others) and how we will hopefully deal with future incidents will be presented, in view of the public health issues and GAPIII requirements.

Erwin Duizer:Erwin Duizer obtained his master degree in Cell Biology at the Agricultural University Wageningen in 1993 and his PhD after 4 years of research at TNO Food and Nutrition Research Institute in 1999 at the same university. In 1998 he started a postdoc position at the Research Laboratory for Infectious Diseases, at the national Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM). At the RIVM he worked as senior scientist on viruses and foodsafety and viruses and hygiene while taking on several management tasks in the meantime. In 2015 he became Head of the National Polio Laboratory and WHO Specialized Reference Laboratory for Polio at the RIVM.

10.45 Four parallel thematic sessions that highlight different aspects of EP&R

In a BSL3-facility incidents and accidents can happen. But do you know what you have to do when there is a spill in a BSL3-faclity?

In this break-out the participants need to define a spill response process based on 2 emergency scenarios in a BSL3 containment area. For this, a brainstorm exercise will be performed by the participants in order to identify the possible spill procedure in 1 of the 2 scenarios. Questions to be answered are: What is the first response step?; What actions need to be taken? and What is the follow-up after the first response?

The participants will be divided into 2 groups. Each group will only discuss 1 of the 2 scenarios. The outcome of the brainstorm session will be an example of the basic approach in order to further develop the emergency response procedures (ERP) for the spill response team. The outcome of both groups will be discussed with all the participants.

Emergencies don't follow rules. However, it is vital to regain control of the situation as quickly as possible. Being well prepared is only half the work. This session will bring very real examples (e.g. leakage of highly infectious agent into sewer system, injured person in an BSL-3 environment, escape of animals from an ABSL-3 environment) and together with your moderator you will brainstorm on how to safely stabilise the emergency situation.

Session 3 will guide the participants through the set-up of an emergency plan, from concept to implementation and training.

Break-out session 4: Communication in times of emergency: 'to tell or not to tell'Moderators: Herman Schreurs - Arnout de BruinRoom: Leuven (M1-08)

Communicating effectively with all stakeholders in case of an emergency will never be easy. The rise of social media adds an extra challenge to that.This session will help you in deciding what to tell, how to tell it and to whom, all in order to support the effective implementation of protective actions and to minimize fear. Session 4 will provide insights in how to set up a robust communication plan

11:45 Lunch – sponsors:

13:00 Four parallel thematic sessions that highlight different aspects of EP&R – see above

14:00 Coffee/tea break - sponsors

14:30 Four parallel thematic sessions that highlight different aspects of EP&R – see above